Gears of Waris a third
person (over the shoulder) shooter that was released exclusively for the Xbox 360
system in November of 2006 and then a year later in November 2007, the PC
version was released for both Windows
and Mac. It can be played by a single
player or a second player may join in co-op mode for the campaign. Much like
other highly popular shooter games such as the
Halo and Call of Duty
franchises, there are also several online multi-player games in which up to 8
players can battle with and against each other. It was given a Mature rating in
the US and was even banned in some countries due the graphic nature of the
violence in the game.

Currently talks
of a movie are in the works and Gears of War 2was released in November
of 2008.

The Story:

The game takes place on a fictional
planet known as Sera. Humanity has fallen under attack by a relentless enemy
called the Locust Horde. The horde is made up of nightmarish creatures that live
underground, burrowing thousands of miles of subterranean tunnels
that they use
to both move about in and emerge onto the surface for surprise attacks. The day
the Horde made their appearance and started the war upon humanity is called
Emergence Day, or E-Day for short. The game begins 14 years after E-Day as the
player starts in a prison, assuming the role of a man named Marcus Fenix.

Fenix was once a
decorated soldier
and Gears of
Warhero. But during a critical stand, Fenix disobeyed his orders to try
and save his father. He was too late, and Fenix was imprisoned. The story begins
4 years after this event, when Fenix’s best friend “Dom” Dominic Santiago
(who
can be played by a secondary player) retrieves Fenix from the Jacinto Maximum
Security Penitentiary, telling him that he‘s been pardoned because he’s needed
back on the battlefield. From there, you both join up with the Delta Squad,
which is comprised of several other NPC’s (non-player characters). The squad of
course changes up a bit as people are either added or killed during the story,
but it is composed of Lieutenant Minh Young Kim, you (as Marcus Fenix) and
Santiago, Augustus “Cole Train” Cole, Damon Baird, and Private Anthony Carmine.

Things have
become critical for humanity, and your C.O. Colonel Victor Hoffman
explains that
a new bomb has been developed called a Lightmass Bomb. It is to be detonated
underground in the heart of the Locust Horde, but in order to do that, first you
need to locate where that is. A team was sent with a device called a resonator,
to deploy it so that the Locust tunnel system could be mapped. Unfortunately
contact was lost with that team and it is up to Delta Squad to find the missing
Alpha Squad, get the resonator deployed and then assist with the placement and
detonation of the Lightmass Bomb.

The Game:

Fresh out of the box you can begin
the game in either Casual or Hardcore, with the completion of the Hardcore
difficulty unlocking the Insanity difficulty. The campaign mode starts you off
in the prison and immediately allows you to start right into the action if you
are familiar with the game, or it gives you the choice to go through a training
mode to become familiar with the controls. The first chapter is essentially a
warm-up, but if you are careful in looking around, you will also realize that
you can immediately start one of the secondary side-missions: collecting Cog Tags. Cog Tags are basically the Dog Tags
of fallen soldiers. There are a number
of Cog tags throughout the game, and achievements are unlocked depending on how
many of them you collect.

In training and then throughout
gameplay, a player can utilize a variety of weapons and cover options. Weapons
range from small arms such as handguns, to specialized weapons like sniper
rifles. You can also pick up and use along the way an assortment of Horde
weapons. Two weapons that are of particular interest in the game are the Dawn of
Hammer and the Lancer
assault rifle. The Lancer is the workhorse of the Gears in
that is doubles as a rapid firing assault weapon and a deadly Melee weapon as
well. The Lancer is equipped with a chainsaw bayonet
that when used in close
quarters for melee attacks, will saw your opponents in half. The Dawn of Hammer
is a unique weapon that has limited use in the game, but yields deadly result on
large Horde opponents that could otherwise not be brought down by conventional
weapons. You can only use the Hammer out in the open with clear skies above your
target, because the Hammer is basically a Laser Guidance system that you
control. You aim and pull the trigger, keeping a lock on your target as a
massive laser from orbit fires down on your enemy.

The game allows for its player to
utilize a number of objects for cover, and has a simple yet effective system for
allowing the player to dodge, duck and roll while under enemy fire. If a player
is hit, a red gear cog with a skull
inside of it (the Gears logo) will appear on
the screen in the center. The worse damage you take, the redder and clearer the
emblem will become until you are dead. In co-op mode, your entire screen will go
red until your buddy can come heal you, but if he doesn’t get to you in time you
both lose and will restart from the last checkpoint.

As with all games, you progress
through the various levels, learning more to the story and each boss becomes a
little harder than the last. New weapons are introduced along the way, with a
few being saved until closer to the end giving you a chance to really get used
to using the large variety that is available to you and trying to determine what
works best for the level you are on. One of the other special features with the
weapons is learning to time your reloads. There is a feature called Active
Reload, in which once reloading has been initiated (either by the player or
because your clip is dry) if you tap your reload button a second time within a
certain time frame (as indicated by a display on the screen) your reload will be
faster. If you really time it right, your next shots will have their damage
increased as a reward. If you fail to time things right however, the reload will
jam and take slightly longer than if you just allow the auto-reload sequence to
play out.

As was mentioned before, Gears
is very much like other shooter franchises in that you can also play a number of
multi-player games. The multi-player matches can be played through a system link
of two or more consoles or online. There are various maps and map packs that
either came with the game or have become DLC’s (downloadable content) over the
last couple of years. There are also a wide variety of games to chose from as
well that will satisfy pretty much any type of player from casual to hardcore
from the guns blazing, rushing-in, gung-ho assault rifle enthusiast, to the
sniper aficionado. There are several types of matches that can be played
from the standard two team death match to Objective matches. As is now common,
many of the achievements to be had in the game, can be acquired through various
accomplishments in these multi-player matches.

My Opinion:

I will be the first to admit that I
am a sucker for shooter games. But my preference is first person. Gears
is one of the few third person shooters
that I have come across that I didn’t
feel like my camera angles
were limited or difficult to control. In fact, I have
to say that Gears is probably one of the best controller designed games I
have played to date. You can do so much in this game to control your character,
but it was so simplistic that I wasn’t getting myself killed trying to remember
what button did what.

The story was catching and the game
went on far longer than I thought, giving me my money’s worth in content. The
graphics were exceptional, and the cut scenes were plenty, but not overly drawn
out. I liked all of the characters and appreciated some of the voice talent they
brought in such as John DiMaggio
who was perfect for the gruff Marcus Fenix and Lester Speight
who voiced the animated and excitable “Cole Train”. The
soundtrack was filled with plenty of adrenaline pumping, drum-cadence heavy
songs. But they did a great job of inserting a number of haunting and eerie
pieces that balanced out the heavy militaristic feel of the music. Every piece
was perfect for each level, adding to the gravity or intensity of the moment.

If there was one thing that was
lacking in this, it is the back-story. I had to bust out the booklet that came
with the game to read up on what I was walking into since the game starts off
kind of abruptly. Once you get into the game, some of the back-story is
explained, but without reading the booklet, you wouldn’t know everything and
might feel a little confused with some of the cut scenes. If there any drawbacks
to the game that I had to point out, it’s the graphic violence. This game is
most definitely NOT for kids and I sincerely hope that despite it’s popularity,
any parent reading this review will strongly reconsider allowing their kids to
play this game. It has a Mature rating for a very good reason. As I mentioned
before, the graphics in this game are outstanding. That includes when you take
the chainsaw part of your Lancer to an enemy and saw the bugger in half, blood
gushing everywhere or ‘curb stomp’ a downed enemy . I will admit that even I
winced a bit at that.

However overall,
I absolutely loved this game. This is one of the few games I have played where
everything came together to create an amazing overall package. From the visual
and audio feast, to the intense action and well designed controls, it was a
fantastic game and worthy of recommendation to mature gamers who have even the
slightest like for shooter games. Gear of War 2 was released November of
2008, which will beg an additional review. But suffice it to say that I was
quick to pick up my own copy of that because I was so hooked on this first one.